Roxbury takes legal action against DEP to test soil from new wells at Fenimore Landfill

The entrance to the Fenimore Landfill in Roxbury.Robert Sciarrino/ The Star-Ledger

ROXBURY — The battle between Roxbury Township and the state over how best to clean up the closed Fenimore Landfill intensified today when the township took legal action to test soil from 20 new wells the state is about to dig at the site.

The township said late this afternoon that it has filed legal action in Superior Court in Morristown seeking a show cause order after the state Department of Environmental Protection denied its request to test the soil.

The DEP is installing the wells to enhance its gas collection system, in which nine wells are already in place to send hydrogen sulfide gas emitted by the landfill to its oxidizer and scrubber system. The DEP plans to cap the landfill, which it took over and closed last year after emissions caused health problems and noxious odors.

However, the township would like to use the wells to determine exactly what was buried at the landfill, a point of contention with the DEP.

The DEP’s $8 million capping plan, unveiled last month, has left township residents unsatisfied. More than 2,000 people have signed petitions asking the DEP to simply truck out the materials. The mayor and council have told the DEP not to take any action at the landfill that would rule out other solutions besides the capping, including trucking out materials.

“We are very disappointed that we must take this extraordinary action because DEP denied our request to test the soil,” Mayor Jim Rilee said of the township’s legal action. “We cannot determine the best way to remediate the serious problems until we know exactly what was buried there.”

The tests planned by the township would be conducted by an independent environmental firm, Qualified Spill, said Township Manger Christopher Raths.

Larry Ragonese, a spokesman for the DEP, said the agency is not allowing the soil tests because "we know what's in there" - fiber board that emits the hydrogen sulfide.

"Excavating this material would cause irreparable harm to Roxbury and to the neighboring towns - it would cause a public health and safety issue," Ragonese said.

A hearing on the proposed show cause order has not yet been scheduled, Raths said.

The landfill, which closed in 1979, reopened in 2011 with plans to cap it and install a solar facility there.